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Chris Sambo
THE former Catholic Bishop of Mutare, Donald Lamont, a strong critic of the Ian Smith’s Rhodesian regime, once said: “If I was an African I would join the liberation fighters.”
Smith and his regime reacted by deporting him.
If I was still in football administration, I would probably have said worse things, regarding sponsorship, than what Harare City chairman, Leslie Gwindi, is reported to have said regarding the Premier Soccer League sponsorship package.

When I look at the prizes that were paid to the clubs, I’m left with no option but to consider them an insult and mockery to not only the teams themselves but the game in general.

With some clubs being paid as little as US$2 000 and Dynamos, the league winners, technically walking away with nothing as their little prize is consumed by fines, I feel there is a serious need to revisit how we are managing our national game.

I’m afraid that if we let this go on and on, without measures being put in place to address the situation, the future of the domestic Premiership looks very bleak indeed and the welfare of our players can’t be guaranteed.

Last month I was invited to be the guest of honour at the launch of the Lifelong Footballers Trust, an organisation which was formed to improve the welfare of former players.

The event attracted former greats such as Chita Antonio, Raphael Phiri, Peter Manyara, to name but a few.
From the meeting, it was evident that our former players are grappling with challenges of sustaining themselves due to the absence of pension plans and other social and medical programmes to help them.

As former and current football administrators, we should all take full responsibility for this sad state of affairs. Clubs have failed to pay our players salaries and bonuses commensurate with their status as professional footballers.

Under the current sponsorship deal, the PSL leadership is consuming US$226 500 per annum, a figure which is ridiculously high, for administration, which means that they get more in one year than what Dynamos have received in three years for winning the championship.

One wonders what the PSL leaders want the more for, given that most of their expenses including travel and hotel accommodation costs, are taken care of. I believe that 50 percent of this amount should be invested in a pension scheme that will sustain players at the end of their playing career.

The Delta Beverages sponsorship deal is now due for renewal.
Negotiations for the sponsorship deal must be put on hold until after the elections whereby the new leadership will review the package and decide what is best for their clubs.

The PSL should engage marketing consultants who will assist them in coming up with the realistic market value of the football brand in negotiating for the SuperSport deal.

The clubs should be given an opportunity to review the deal and give their input, and that way the document becomes a collective effort and we won’t have a situation where some clubs come out in the newspapers criticising the package.

The PSL also need to ensure that a significant portion of the sponsorship is invested in a pension fund for the players. After all, it is the players who spend years playing football to market the sponsors’ products and services.

At the end of their playing career we do not want them to lead destitute lives like what we are seeing now.
Chris Sambo is a former PSL chief executive